To stay competitive in the long term, companies should digitize themselves. - Many are aware of this. But how exactly do you use digitization to your own advantage? We show you what you should keep in mind.
Digitization: The basis for success
First of all, it is important to understand what digitization means in the first place. In short, it's about converting analog data into digital data. In other words, scanning the mountains of paper in the office and systematically organizing them in the digital archive. Digitizing means restructuring information storage and using specific technologies for this purpose. Here, the difference between digitization, digital transformation and automation should be noted once again.
Digital data is one of the most valuable raw materials of a company today. Whoever owns data has power. Digitization lays the foundation for simplifying business processes in order to work more cost-effectively and efficiently. It opens the door for effective, modern and personalized marketing and can give a decisive advantage over the competition. Customers can be more easily retained through improved service and innovations can be driven faster. But it's not enough to install just a few technical tools to achieve this. The approach must be all-encompassing and done from the ground up.
Five To-Dos for perfect digitization
Since digitization makes an essential contribution to the success of a company, we have compiled the five most important To-Dos in the following section:
1. Adapt corporate strategy
Digitization doesn't just happen on the side, it has to be planned. Companies should align their strategy digitally for the long term and decide at a central level where and how to digitize. Employees or teams are needed to take responsibility for the digitization strategy and bring the rest of the people along with them. In order to integrate digitization into the company strategy, it is important to thoroughly analyze the departments and their processes beforehand. In the course of digitalization, the company culture may change. Agile working and a flexible corporate structure become more important. Innovative approaches often emerge only through joint brainstorming.
2. Train employees
Employees should be integrated into digitalization and the accompanying transformation of the company from the very beginning. It is important to take the team along on the digital journey and offer further training and qualification opportunities. In this way, long-serving employees will not lose their connection or motivation.
Various digitalization academies offer courses to help with further training in digital skills and automation. The Bots and People Academy also helps companies to automate their processes and make them more efficient and cost-effective. Participants can become Automation Strategists in flexible online courses and learn the basics of Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Process Mining, BPM, change management, automation in the cloud with iPaaS solutions, etc.
3. Be versatile
Digitization is not a one-off action that ends after a few weeks or months. The business world is changing rapidly, and new, disruptive technologies threaten proven systems time and again. Companies should therefore not just use digitalization to overhaul legacy systems, but see it as the basis for necessary innovations. Big data technologies can be used to analyze the newly available data and improve processes by means of automation, for example.
4. Putting customers in focus
Digitization should always focus on the most important target group: The customers. What are their wishes and demands? How can their customer journey be improved? It is important not only to digitize internal processes, but also to revolutionize the external impact. Partnerships with other companies can also drive digitization forward.
5. Staying technologically up to date
Tools for digitization are constantly evolving. So it is important to always check what is really needed. Technologies such as management software or cloud computing are driving digitalization these days.
However, optimization does not stop with these tools. Digitization provides the ideal foundation for automation. Often, the terms are interchanged or used synonymously. But process automation is only possible through digitalization. Digital processes that quickly become confusing and error-prone can be streamlined using automation. RPA bots take over simple, repetitive and monotonous tasks, such as filling out spreadsheets or sending mails. So anyone who digitizes should always think one step ahead: What can I now improve with the newly acquired digital data?
Conclusion: Digitize correctly for digital transformation
Those who approach digitization in the wrong way can quickly become frustrated if the hoped-for improvements do not materialize. It is therefore important to plan for the long term and to see the changes not just as annoying necessities, but as opportunities. Digitization lays the foundation for innovation. Only if it is well organized and forms a solid basis can the maximum benefits be derived from it. On the path to digital transformation, employees and customers must not be forgotten. On the contrary: Only with a healthy corporate culture can the transformation succeed.
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